After President Bob Hanover is shot dead at the White House press conference by a gunman with no identity, Nick Addis,, a presidential aide, is reluctantly drawn into an unofficial-and private-investigation of the assassination. In this off-the-books effort, he is joined by Clarence Dunne, the disgraced chief of White House security, and Julia Lancette, a CIA analyst at odds with the Agency. As the intrigue mounts-the first lady and the vice president are fiercely competing for their party's presidential nomination-Addis, Dunne, and Lancette are confronted by faceless and ruthless enemies determined to stop them from uncovering long-hidden secrets.